日期: 2021-11-03
In this article we will talk about another Chinese old saying, that is “Chi State is too big to warrant a marital spouse of mine”. In Chinese it is “齊大非偶”. It is basically used to decline a marriage proposal due to unmatching family backgrounds or sizes.
There were three states involved in this old saying: the Zheng state which we talked about in the second episode, while two others were the Chi state and the Loo state. The Chi State was large in size bordering the sea in the east, while the Loo state was in the south of the Chi State only a lot smaller. Both the Chi and Loo States were in the Shangtong Province nowaday, while the Zheng State was in the Honan Province a couple of hundreds of miles in the west of the Shangtong Province.
Though small in size, the Loo State to certain degree was respected among the vassal states for being a Chou etiquette rule stickler reputed for doing everything by the book. The Chi State was also as reputed, if not more, in that its beginning ruler was Jon Tse Ya, who was the kind of joint chief of staff figure to the Chou Woo Emperor that had created the Chou Dynasty 400 hundred years earlier. By the way Jon Tse Ya is still a widely known historic figure in China even now, so that you can still see TV sitcoms made in China every now and then based on his stories.
In 713 BC these three states had formed a political alliance to mess around with other states’ businesses on behalf of the Chou Dynasty which had been known to be getting weaker and weaker all through the years as the common ruler to all the vassal states in the Chou empire. As one common practice to strengthen bonds among allies, marriages between them were not only ceremonial but also politically motivated, for which the Chi State’s ruler, the Chi She Duke, had proposed marrying his daughter Wen Chiang to the Zheng State’s First Prince Gi Hoo. But Gi Hoo turned it down by saying that the “ Chi State was too big to warrant a marital spouse.” Disappointed, Chi She Duke then married Wen Chiang to the Loo Huan Duke in 709 BC, the then ruler of the Loo State. People were saying the reason could have been there was someone else, whom Gi Hoo had loved dearly and would not want to be caught in the lovers’ triangle.
Gi Hoo had later on become a handsome First Prince and a valiant military commander with all promising future ahead after he, as the ally’s military commander, defeated and killed three hundred Rong nomad people from the north in 706 BC in response to Chi She Duke’s call for help. Once again, Chi She Duke resumed his marriage proposal for another daughter of his, which Gi Hoo again politely declined. This time his father’s top advisor Gi Tsai John suggested accepting the marriage proposal to ensure Gi Hoo’s inheritance right as the First Prince being supported by such a strong ally from outside as the Chi State.
Goo Hoo said that he couldn’t do it because the people back home to say that his real motive was please his future father-in-law. But Gi Tsai John thought that was exactly what Gi Hoo should want people back home to think to strengthen his inheritance right as the First Prince, and thought that Gi Hoo was making a big mistake by turning down the marriage proposal for the second time. which unfortunately became a reality later on after Gi Hoo had taken the throne from his father. To make a long story short, Goo Hoo was assissnated in 694 BC by one of his high-ranking officers who supported Gi Too, Gi Hoo’s younger brother.
But people were saying that the real reason could have been the widespread rumor at the time that Gi Hoo might have heard about the sex scandal between Wen Chiang, the Chi Princess, and her half-brother Jon Jew Er, who later became the Chi Shang Duke to inherit his father the Chi She Duke in 698 BC. The rumor had been that Wen Chiang and Jon Jew Er were incestuous lovers as teenagers and it appeared that everyone, except for her husband, Loo Huan Duke, knew about it. They said that Gi Hoo must have heard about it, and that could have been the real reason for giving a cold shoulder to the Chi She Duke years before.
Four years after Chi Shang Duke had assumed his title, he was scheduled to marry the Chou Dynasty’s princess in 694 BC, Loo Huan Duke and Wen Chiang were invited to attend the wedding ceremony in the Chi State as wedding witness, when the husband found that the wife had disappeared into the maze of Chi’s palace complex where she used to live as Princess. Loo Huan Duke later was so upset to know that he was the last one to know about the infamous love affairs that had just been rekindled since a few days earlier. Infuriated and ashamed, that he had harshly scolded Wen Chiang and planned to depart ASAP the next day before everyone knew what had happened.
Wen Chiang immediately tipped off the Chi Shang Duke when the brother came to the realization that there was no way he could have stopped this from turning into an international scandal unless his did something quick and decisive, and that was exactly what he had done. There was this Hulk Hogan type of powerful man, Prince Pensan, who had worked for Chi Shang Duke as bodyguard and henchman, and his only job was to do all the dirty work for him. This time he was ordered to assassinate the Loo Huan Duke after he was drunk at the farewell party to throw the next day.
Loo Huan Duke simply wanted to get it over with ASAP by gulping all the toasts all at once, and became drunk when the Prince Pensan loaded him up to the royal coach back to the Loo State, which Loo Huan Duke never made it before the Prince Pensan broke all his ribs by rounding his ribcage from behind with his bare hands. But the news was that his death was caused by accidental falling from royal coach while being drunk, to which most people had doubts.
The Loo State, being a much weaker and smaller state than the Chi State, only protested lukewarmly, in addition to the complaint about Prince Pensan being careless during tending to the deceased Loo Huan Duke, for which he was not supposed to go free with impunity. Responding to the Loo State’s complaint, the Chi Shang Duke sentenced the Prince Pensan to death on manslaughter charges hoping to put an end to the whole thing as soon as possible.
貼文者：Mariia